


A Family Brunch

by believesinponds



Series: Aces Polyamory (or "Fuck You Carl") [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, kent is learning to be happy, scraps is learning how to be a part of the family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 06:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13184676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/believesinponds/pseuds/believesinponds
Summary: Jeff Troy[11:48 pm] everything’s good. we’re watching a movie and i’m gonna stay with him tonight.Tyler Scramstad[11:48 pm] thanks manJeff Troy[11:49 pm] Mels is making family brunch tomorrow & ur invitedTyler Scramstad[11:52 pm] oh cool. i don’t want to intrude though.Jeff Troy[11:52 pm] be there at 11:00 asshole. it’s not intruding when ur invited.(Happy times for Kent from Scraps's POV.)





	A Family Brunch

Tyler Scramstad was playing for the Coyotes when Kent Parson was drafted. He didn’t know the guy, but he certainly heard the rumors. Parson and Zimmermann were close in the Q and when Parson went to the Aces (and Zimmermann went to rehab) he became absolutely _reckless_. Too much partying, caught too many times drinking underage, and most likely addicted to heroin just like Zimmermann.

Of course, as soon as he met him Tyler knew it was mostly bullshit. Sure, the kid was reckless both on and off the ice, but he was also subdued in a way that seemed pretty unhealthy.

This led Tyler to the other rumors. The ones that speculated on just _how_ close he had been with Zimmermann.

Over the next three years Parson grew out of the party-boy image, got the A and then the C for the Aces, and won a Stanley Cup to boot. After every game they had against the Aces, though, Parson sat quietly at the bar while the guys around him socialized. Tyler did his best to try and engage him in conversation, but he never seemed interested in more than a few cursory words and several drinks.

When Tyler was traded to Vegas he figured he might be able to wear the guy down. Parse was a good captain and wasn’t about to ignore one of his players, so Tyler sat with him whenever the team went out and talked hockey until one day he mentioned something about his brother going to college and Parse told him about his brilliant little sister and he face lit up so magnificently that Tyler swore then and there to get that reaction out of him as often as possible.

It took two years of friendship for Parse to come out to him and another year after that for him to come out to Parse. Then one day he accidentally caught Swoops and Parse making out on a roadie, spent the whole night reading articles about polyamory, and was brought into their small circle of confidants that was mostly made up of various partners.

At first he wasn’t sure about the idea of dating more than one person at a time, but the more he was able to witness Parse, Swoops, and Mels interacting, the more appealing it became. Before long he was on his first official date with Parse and it was way more fun than he ever thought it could be.

~

Every year that they weren’t playing, the Aces went to the same bar for the Stanley Cup finals and this year was no exception. Parse was too into the game to talk anything other than hockey, and then when the Falcs won he ordered a round on him and talked to everyone he could about Zimmermann’s goal.

“Beautiful!” he shouted. “Holy shit that was fucking _gorgeous_. Didja see that goal, Swoops?”

Swoops laughed. “Yeah, man, I saw it.”

“Some good fucking hockey. Damn!”

The rest of guys were just as excited about the game. They all spent the next thirty minutes or so drinking and talking about the various plays and saves while the TV screens showed recaps interspersed with footage of the families and friends on the ice.

Tyler opened up Twitter to post his congratulations and then scroll through to see what people was saying. Literally everyone was shouting about Zimmermann, which was to be expected after that final goal, but after a minute he noticed that some of the comments had nothing to do with the actual game. He was confused until he landed on a screencap of...Jack Zimmermann kissing a guy who was wearing his jersey.

Like. Actually kissing him. On national television.

Holy shit.

“Uhh.” He turned and nudged Parse. “Hey Parser. You see this?”

Parse raised his eyebrows. “It’s on the screens, Scraps.”

“Naw, look.” He handed over his phone. “It’s all over social…”

Parse took the phone from him and froze. His expression was hard to decipher, but it definitely wasn’t the pure joy it had been for the last thirty minutes.

“Oooh, so he’s gay or whatever?” Carl was suddenly leaning over Parse’s shoulder. “Jesus Chrsit. You know, why can’t Zimmermann do anything fuckin’ regular.”

Tyler gave him an incredulous look. He didn’t stop, though--didn’t even notice that he and Swoops were trying to get him to shut up. Didn’t notice that Parse couldn’t even respond.

“Go back to your glory days talk, Carly,” Swoops said.

“Right. Glory days…” Tyler mutters. “Just fuck off, Carly. Nobody cares what you think about Zimmermann.”

Carl’s eyes narrowed, and it looked like he might make another comment, but one of the other guys pulled him into a conversation and he backed off. Swoops stepped in next to Parse and put a hand on his shoulder. He smiled kindly at Tyler. “I’ll get him home, Scraps, don’t worry.”

Parse seemed to snap out of his frozen state and handed the phone back to Tyler. “Thanks, man.”

Tyler wanted to follow, to make sure everything was okay, but Swoops had been helping Parse with shit like this for years and Tyler would probably just get in the way. He nodded and locked eyes with Swoops. “You call me if you guys need anything, okay?”

“We will.”

Tyler flagged down a bartender and settled their tabs so he could head home, too.

~

**Jeff Troy**  
[11:48 pm] everything’s good. we’re watching a movie and i’m gonna stay with him tonight.

**Tyler Scramstad**  
[11:48 pm] thanks man

**Jeff Troy**  
[11:49 pm] Mels is making family brunch tomorrow  & ur invited

**Tyler Scramstad**  
[11:52 pm] oh cool. i don’t want to intrude though.

**Jeff Troy**  
[11:52 pm] be there at 11:00 asshole. it’s not intruding when ur invited.

~

Tyler drove up to the Troy home at 11:00 am exactly. When Mels opened the door he was immediately accosted by Swoops’s kids, who dragged him to their play room by the kitchen and made him play My Little Pony for what felt like hours before Swoops and Parse actually showed up. Mels had to rescue him from being trampled, but it was worth it to get to see Parse’s face light up when the kids jumped at him.

Swoops gives his wife a hug and thanks her for making food. Parse lumbers over with both kids clinging to his legs and gives Mels a kiss on the cheek. Then he turns to Tyler and winks. “Glad you could make it. I heard you got roped into My Little Pony.”

“Uncle Ty was Rainbow Dash and I was Pinkie Pie and Mitch was Applejack even though his favorite is Princess Celestia!” Jordan’s explanation went right over Tyler’s head, but he smiled and ruffled her hair anyway while Parse laughed.

“Uncle Ty, huh?” he winked again and Tyler felt his cheeks heat up.

He shrugged and watched the kids run to the table. “Apparently all you have to do is play My Little Pony to be inducted into the uncle club.”

Kent looped an arm through his and pushed him toward the table as well. “I don’t think that’s _all_ you have to do.”

“Uncle Kent, sit by me!”

“No, sit by me!”

“Well I think I’m gonna sit by Uncle Ty, but what if we both sit right across from both of you?”

“Aw, man!”

“Fiiiiine, I guess so.”

“All right, everyone!” Mels set a giant plate piled with french toast next to the eggs that were already on the table. “Dig in!”

~

After brunch the kids convinced everyone to go swimming. Tyler still thought it was too hot outside to do anything in the summer when you lived in the desert, but Swoops had an extra pair of trunks for him to borrow (and Kent had a whole room of his own stuff here anyway), so he went along with it.

“Hey,” Kent swam over to Tyler in the deep end and grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Hey,” Tyler said, his hand landing on Kent’s waist to keep them both steady. “You seem good today.”

“Yeah. I think I am.” He smiled. “I wanted to thank you, man.”

“For what?”

Kent looked down at a leaf floating by. “For showing me. I’m glad I didn’t have to discover it on my own, you know? At least you and Jeff were around.”

“Oh.” Tyler frowned. “I’m just sorry I did it when Carly was there, too.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Kent squeezed his shoulder. “I always knew Carly was an asshole. Most of the guys on the team are like that, honestly. It’s just the reality we live in.”

“Well it’s a shitty reality,” Tyler muttered.

“Yeah. It is.” Kent trailed his hand down Tyler’s arm and linked there fingers under the water. “Sometimes it’s okay, though.”

Tyler was definitely blushing this time. Before he could say anything, Kent leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

“Eeeewwwwww!” the kids squealed at them, splashing up a storm, and Jeff and Mels laughed at them. Kent joined in a moment later, splashing back and calling himself the pool monster, and Tyler couldn’t help but agree.

Sometimes it was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want my sweet son Kent to be happy <3
> 
> Hit me up on [tumblr](http://believesinponds.tumblr.com) if you want to send prompts for this verse. I feel like I need this right now haha.


End file.
